As Jesus concludes His final discourse, “Before I Leave You,” He looks to the beginning of the end of His suffering. He has just proclaimed: “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 6:33b). All that the broken world could muster against Him, Jesus had overcome. This declaration marks the final and full success of an impossible mission: the proclamation, confrontation, exhortation, and presentation of the Son of God and the, now ready, lamb of God for glorification. This three part prayer is in complete unity with the mission and message of the Savior.
We will see, over the next few lessons, #1: Jesus giving thanks for the honor of being used as the means of eternal life for all those whom the father had given Him; #2: giving thanks for the present disciples to remain resolute and unshaken in order to fulfill their calling to be messengers of the Gospel, and finally #3: giving thanks for those who will “believe” by the words of the Gospel and take up the standard of the cross with the same intensity and determination as the disciples who carried it before them. The lamb is now ready to be slain. The work of redemption is ready to be fulfilled.
March 15, 2015 | Pastor John Bayles | The Hour is Now Come: The Lamb is Now Ready | John 17:1-5
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